Suspect in bomb plot to be tried in federal court

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — An Illinois man charged with plotting to firebomb dozens of churches in northeastern Oklahoma with Molotov cocktails will be tried in federal — not state — court.

Ottawa County District Attorney Eddie Wyant says state charges against 24-year-old Gregory Arthur Weiler II of Elk Grove Village, Ill., were dropped Wednesday after Weiler was taken into federal custody.

Weiler had been jailed in Miami, Okla., since October, when authorities arrested and charged him with threatening to use an explosive or incendiary device and violating the Oklahoma Antiterrorism Act.

Prosecutors say Weiler planned to bomb churches in Oklahoma and that investigators found instructions for making Molotov cocktails, a list of 48 churches and a written outline of his plan.

Messages left with federal officials were not immediately returned Wednesday.